Musk congratulates Modi and says he is looking to do 'exciting work' in India

Tesla chief is yet to announce his trip to New Delhi after postponing one in April

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk during their meeting in New York last year. Reuters

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his election victory and said he is looking forward to doing “exciting work” in a country with Asia’s third-largest economy.

Mr Musk, however, did not say when he plans to visit India after postponing a scheduled trip to New Delhi this year because of work obligations at the electric vehicle manufacturing company.

“Congratulations Narendra Modi on your victory in the world’s largest democratic elections. Looking forward to my companies doing exciting work in India,” Mr Musk said in a post on X on Friday.

Mr Modi will be sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on Sunday. This is the third time that has had been elected to the position following a victory in elections that concluded last week.

Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is forming the new government with help from regional parties as the BJP could not secure a majority on its own in the elections that stretched for more than a month from April 19 to June 1.

Mr Musk planned to meet Mr Modi during his visit in April and announce new investments in the country but cancelled the visit saying there were “very heavy Tesla obligations”.

However, he said in a post on X at the time that he is looking forward “to visiting later this year.”

Mr Musk met Mr Modi during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to the US last year and announced Tesla’s intention to invest in India.

“I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible,” Mr Musk said, according to an AFP report.

Mr Musk, also chief executive of SpaceX, said he hopes to take the company's Starlink satellite internet service to India.

The owner of social media platform X is also focusing on artificial intelligence.

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Last month, Mr Musk's artificial intelligence start-up xAI has raised $6 billion in a series B funding round that includes participation from Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his investment company Kingdom Holding, as it seeks to challenge rival OpenAI.

Mr Musk launched xAI in July last year amid the growing demand for generative AI to compete with dominant market player OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, with about $13 billion investment.